The Gardens of Portugal opens in Kings Park

Long concentrated in its stronghold of Mineola, Portuguese and Brazilian food — regarded for heroic shows of grilled and barbecued meat — has been spilling east throughout Long Island. Though the Brazilian chain Fogo de Chao has grabbed the highlight as of late, the cuisine has a great deal much more quietly arrived in Kings Park.

The Gardens of Portugal normally takes up home where by Prolonged River Restaurant utilized to be on the corner of Key Avenue and Indian Head Road. That sprawling room had, in recent many years, developed from a Chinese cafe to a Chinese-Portuguese fusion place right before going all in with caldo verde and rodizio, a parade of all-you-can-consume barbecue that rotates among 10 various meats (generally beef), expenditures $39.95 and is obtainable Thursday to Sunday.

The restaurant’s eating room is a charming, if somewhat austere, time warp, solid in brick and mustard hues with dim wood tables, potted ferns and a flickering fuel hearth in the middle of the room. Out entrance, along the avenue, is a stone patio, even though around the back again entrance — closest to the parking ton for the Kings Park Extended Island Rail Road station — is a full bar.

Foods are introduced by baskets of warm, shatteringly crisp potato chips. Appetizers ($13 to $19) operate as a result of Portuguese classics such as curl of octopus grilled to a pliable char, then piled with roasted peppers and onions and dressed in citrus and olive oil. Littleneck clams steamed in a buttery wine broth with showers of cilantro is a Lisbon specialty a chilly-temperature comfort and ease. Of the key programs ($19 to $36), skirt steak in a portobello sauce was peppery and fork-tender, but the classic Portuguese dish carne de porco a Alentejana — pork butt with clams and potatoes — was challenging and overcooked.

There is a great deal of seafood on the menu — from stuffed, steamed and broiled lobster to bacalhau, or salted cod, served two means — as well as several expressions of grilled steak, lamb, and pork, additionally goat and rabbit stews or barbecued rooster bought total or halved. (A smoker is seen on an outside patio). A couple Italian dishes dot the menu, too, from antipasto to a couple pastas flan and cheesecake are amongst the desserts.

The Gardens of Portugal is open for lunch and supper every single working day but Monday at 4 Main St., Kings Park 631-544-4666, gardensofportugal.on the net